


Unstoppable

by coolchulainn



Category: Fate/EXTRA, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, protector characters becoming dependent on the people they protect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-26
Updated: 2015-01-26
Packaged: 2018-03-09 05:45:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3238517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolchulainn/pseuds/coolchulainn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Giving up was never even close to being an option.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unstoppable

**Author's Note:**

> healing items do not exist when I need archer to get beat up

Week six, day four. They were so close to the end, why did this have to happen now? He'd always had terrible luck though. He should've been more careful after fending off that effigy, of course he wouldn't be in top shape now. The Nephilim's hp was low in the double digits, one more hit would have finished it but overconfidence, one bad move, an attack when he should have guarded-

The program's long arm grazed his head, he moved to the side just enough for its other fist to hit him square in the chest. It sent him flying straight past his Master and into the wall, he could feel something breaking in his ribcage and he hit his head hard enough to black out but he couldn't, there wasn't time to be in pain when that monster was still there and still a threat.

“Archer!”

Her voice was higher than usual and it pierced his eardrums, he tried to raise a hand to cover his ears but moving just made him want to vomit. His vision blurred and he noticed that it was some wound on his head bleeding into his eye. He could still make out the Nephilim behind his Master, it was almost dead but with his body in this state all he could do was point at it and hope she noticed in time.

Hakuno turned around just in time to notice another attack, she rolled to the side to dodge and jumped to her feet right in front of him, snatching an object from the ground. Between the light from the artificial sun shining behind her and the blood in his eye he couldn't make out anything other than that it was white. She lunged forward with a battle cry that assaulted his temples and wildly swung the object at the program, landing a lucky hit that cut away the last of its hp. Hakuno was breathing heavily and dropped the weapon as the program dissolved into loose data, the clear sound of metal hitting the floor told him she'd used one of his swords.

“Archer! Archer can you stand?”

He was still trying to process what had just happened, but his Master had already hurried over to his side and was pulling his arm. He wiped his eye and tried to stand up, but by the time he'd worked himself up to his knees he was coughing violently and his mouth was filled with the disgusting and awfully familiar taste of metal. How long had it been since he last coughed up blood? Not since he was alive and 25 probably.

“I fucked up, huh.”

Even with this particular enemy program out of the way they were still in the middle of the arena, with at least three more between them and the exit no matter what route they took. His Master managed to somehow score a hit just now but she couldn't possibly hope to stand against any programs at full health – and neither could he if he continued to feel like throwing up his insides whenever he tried to do anything more than breathing.

“Let's go.”

She pulled his arm again and tried to put it over her shoulder. He gave her a confused look, surely she wouldn't-

“Get on my back, we're leaving.”

“You're going to carry me?” he asked, half laughing and immediately regretting it as his chest stabbed itself because of it. She had to be joking right? He was a full head taller than her, she wasn't really going to-

“Yeah, unless you have a better idea. Just hold on.” She pulled his weight onto her back and grabbed his legs, lifting him up with apparent ease. He could tell his chest gave way far more than it should and it hurt like a bitch but he put his arms around her shoulders and said nothing, now was not the time for that. The Enhancement Spike around his Master's neck glowed purple and she ran, way faster than he'd expect her to be able to with a full grown man on her back, even with that code cast. Maybe his body had started to fade already, he was dying after all.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked. No matter how you looked at it, their situation was hopeless. If it was just her she could've made it to the exit with the same luck that let her kill the Nephilim, but with him to drag her down – the idea, the mere concept that _he_ was dragging _her_ down was insane, it was painful, his one job here in the moon cell was to protect her and yet she was carrying him on her back as his ribs pierced his organs and his blood rubbed into her hair. “It's hopeless.” _I'm hopeless._ The Gammawave at the end of the hallway turned around as she sprinted into the passage on the side.

“Giving up isn't an option! Giving up was never even close to being an option!” They turned a corner and ran straight past a Tremors, its eyes followed them in confusion but they'd left its area of interest before it could decide whether to chase them. Hakuno was breathing heavily, carrying him was definitely taking its toll but she hadn't slowed down even once.

“So I'm not leaving you behind, and we're going to make it to the exit, and then Sakura can fix you or Rani can fix you or the Aozaki sisters so don't-” She heaved him up a little higher, and he held on to her a little tighter in return. “-don't you dare die here. As- as your Master I forbid it!” She ran past another Tremors, it snapped its jaw at them and chased after them, but once it caught up they were already out of range.

“If I were human I'd be dead already, an order like that won't just randomly heal my injuries.” Of course, with his mouth full of blood and his organs impaled on his own ribs all that was left for him was snappy remarks. The glow of the exit was in sight now but the edge of his vision was turning black and whether he was about to die or just pass out wasn't something he could say for sure.

“Shut up, I said don't! Don't even think about it, I'm nothing without you!”

Something about that last part bothered him, but he didn't get a chance to think about what it was exactly. Hakuno had entered the portal, and the sudden pull of the SERAPH dragging them back to school knocked him out cold.

-

_Oh! Oh no, he looks terrible, what happened? No, wait, never mind that now, we have to patch him up! You can use the shower while I work ok? You'll probably want to wash your hair._

_He's in awful shape, it's a miracle you even made it here...Oh no, no, don't worry, he'll be ok eventually. That's what I'm here for._

_You came to the right place though, the nurse's office is reinforced with several programs that speed up the recovery of everyone inside. He should be good to go again by tomorrow evening as long as he doesn't leave the room until then. It's a digital environment after all: there's nothing a good night's rest won't fix._

-

He woke up to the presence of someone behind him, he jerked upright and tried to project a sword, but activating his Magic Circuits sent a sharp pain through his brain and his magecraft sparked and died out as he instinctively reached for his bandaged head. Instead he tried to see who it even was, but his eyes had a surprising amount of trouble adjusting to the surrounding darkness. All he could tell for now was that he was in a bed in the nurse's office, and that someone had taken off his cloak and shoes before putting him in here.

“Are you ok?”

“Oh, it's just you.” He lay back down, facing away from her. He felt stupid that he couldn't even recognise his own Master's presence – then again, they'd never really been apart long enough for it to be relevant, and he could probably cut himself some slack considering he almost died. “I'm fine.”

The mattress bent under the weight of another person.

“Master-”

“I can't sleep when I'm the only one in the room.” She got under the blanket, there wasn't really enough room for two people on the bed and she was forced to curl up to him in order to fit.

“That's-” ridiculous, he wanted to say, but it was true that since they met she'd never slept without him in the room. As far as she could remember it had always been like that. It was weird to think about.

“Can't you get in one of the other beds?” Having someone press against his back was something he hadn't experienced in a long time – if ever – and it was making him uncomfortable.

“Other people might need them. This one's already in use.”

“I see.”

“You don't mind, do you?”

“No, it's-” Suddenly he was very aware of the warmth coming from her side of the bed. “It's fine.”

She responded by putting an arm around his waist, he flinched slightly but thankfully she didn't seem to have noticed. Now that it was there he actually kind of liked it. He hadn't had a lot of physical affection in his later life so this was-

Kind of pathetic really. He had to get his act together, there wasn't any meaning behind this and he had to stop thinking there was. It was just his Master, who happened to have trouble sleeping on her own. Who risked her life dragging him away from literal death earlier that day. No biggie.

“...Thank you.”

“Hm?” She sounded sleepy, he probably woke her up with that. Goddammit.

“For today. You saved me.”

“No problem.” She laughed weakly. “You've saved me a lot of times before. I guess I'm kind of a burden.”

There it was again, that one thing that bothered him right before he blacked out before. Why was it that she thought of herself that way? Couldn't she see how great she was, how much she'd grown already in the few weeks he even knew her? She'd started out as the weakest Master but here they were, the second to last week, the two of them barely even qualified for a real existence and yet there were only three Masters left who could potentially be stronger than her – and there was not a chance that they were. They were strong of course, but Hakuno would grow beyond that, she probably already had. She'd taken the lives of five people but she still cared just as much as at the start, it didn't stop her at all, it just made her stronger. She was carrying the responsibility for every life she took and instead of weighing her down it made her unstoppable. Hakuno was unstoppable and amazing and the most important thing in the entire moon cell, the most important thing to him in the entire-

“No, not at all.”

 


End file.
